It didn’t happen during the “Big Brother 23″ game, but you can add another showmance to the “Big Brother” books: Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss are dating. The couple simultaneously shared Instagram posts on Thursday announcing their new status, accompanied by shots from their first official photo shoot as a couple.
“💗💗💗 the absolute best thing to come out of the most stressful 3 months of my life,” Rehfuss wrote in her post.
“Coming out of the Big Brother house has been overwhelming, but I’m so lucky to have had Queen Claire by my side making me smile and laugh everyday [sic] ❤️ I’m so excited to see what’s next for us!” Xiao penned.
In an interview with “Us Weekly,” which also has some more, um, interesting photos from the shoot, the two said that they felt a connection while they were competing on the show — that was very clear to live feeders — but they were focused on the game and didn’t explore it until the jury house. Xiao was the second juror, getting booted in late August, and Rehfuss joined the jury two weeks later, after which they stayed up late every night talking.
“I remember the first or second night that she was there, we stayed up all night just talking until 5:00 a.m. That happened every single night for the first, like, five days,” Xiao said. “That’s when I started really thinking like, ‘Wait a second, why didn’t this happen in the house? There’s such a strong connection and chemistry between us.’ I think that was the beginning of us thinking about what this could be.”
They found it easier to open up to each other in jury without the stress of the game and knowledge that their every move was being filmed 24/7 hanging over them. It was Rehfuss — who confessed her real job (AI engineer) and where she really lived (Manhattan, like him, not Queens) to Xiao in an adorable moment before he was evicted — who made the first move.
“In the game, nothing ever happened. There wasn’t any secret backroom kisses or anything like that. It just naturally occurred in the jury house. I would say I asked what would happen with this relationship,” she shared. “Would we stay friends? Would we potentially try to be something more? I think that we both just really felt the chemistry once we got to the jury house and could really connect with each other. We would stay up late talking every single night and we just really developed a bond.”
The other jurors were aware of what was brewing and helped the couple find secret hiding spots to avoid the show’s house managers, who were trying to keep everyone separate to curb game talk. “The other houseguests were very aware of what was happening. Me and Alyssa [Lopez] were roommates in jury. She was like my confidante,” Rehfuss said. “Everyone else was also helping us try to get around the jury house managers. So everyone in the jury house basically knew what was happening. It wasn’t like a dirty little secret in the boat house or anything. It was very fun.”
SEE ‘Big Brother 23’s’ Derek X.: ‘There might be an alliance that I’m missing’
While the season was airing, fans also shipped Xiao and Hannah Chaddha, to whom he left one of his sweatshirts when he was evicted, and Julie Chen Moonves even asked him about a possible romance with her in his exit interview. All three of them talked when Chaddha arrived in jury, after which Xiao and Rehfuss became official.
“Me and Claire actually didn’t get together until Hannah came and we were able to talk to her about this. When Hannah came, I think me and Hannah actually talked first. We were just on the same page that our relationship was better off as just friends,” Xiao said. “She is someone that I want to keep in my life and I’m someone that she wants to keep in her life, just purely at a friendship level. It was just very platonic between us. But, in terms of awkwardness, I’d say zero to none, for all three of us. I don’t want to speak for everyone, but we’ve had open conversations with all three of us at the same time.”
And don’t worry, Rehfuss doesn’t mind being the third wheel in her new beau’s showmance with Travis Long, which was tragically cut short when the surfer dude was evicted first. “You know, the first conversation I basically had with Derek, I think Travis was there. So they’ve always been a package deal in my mind. I’m in support of it,” she said. “I’m going to have to learn how to surf if I want to keep up with these, you know, these bros. But, I’m in support of it. I love it.”
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